GOP HOPES MAKEOVER SPARKS REVIVAL

Party seeks to broaden appeal to Latinos, women and gays

Locally, the GOP has launched its outreach effort by identifying more than 700 clubs and groups across the county that it will approach.

San Diego Mesa College political scientist Carl Luna said the national plan represents the most thorough party overhaul in recent memory.

“I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything quite this comprehensive,” he said. Democrats went through a similar self-examination and call for change following George McGovern’s thumping in the 1972 presidential election, he added.

But Luna maintains that the GOP issues go beyond mechanics, minority hiring or simple outreach. They involve core policy positions such as those that oppose any kind of gun control.

“It just doesn’t have broad appeal, especially to centrist independents,” he said. “That leaves two choices — tweak or change positions. But if you’re just tweaking the message without reorienting the brand, you’re going to have a hard time.”

The party’s only other choice given the nation’s demographics, Luna said, is to double-down on conservative principles and get more supporters to the polls.

County Democratic Party Chairwoman Francine Busby said a marketing campaign “won’t accomplish a thing.”

Busby pointed out that Obama carried San Diego County in 2008 and 2012, and that Democrats have a countywide voter registration advantage, albeit slim at slightly more than 22,000.

Republicans still have plenty of clout in the region.

In 2010, GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman carried the county, and North County and East County voters consistently send Republicans to the Legislature and Congress. Republicans also hold sway on many school boards and city councils.

But there’s no question the party needs work, according to a North County tea party activist, Rhonda Deniston of the group Stop Taxing Us. Deniston said she believes the GOP is struggling to stay afloat.

“We’re always open to new ideas and welcome dialogue from people from all walks of life,” she said. “If that’s the way they are now going to reach out, we welcome that. It’s about policies that attract everybody.”